I’m enjoying the show.
Omega is not a side-kick–she’s a primary character, along with the rest of the Bad Batch.
The pace of the plot’s development has been steadily increasing. Now that we have a good feel for the characters as individuals, things will happen.
My main disappointment so far is the lack of focus on Kamino. But it looks like they’re headed back there now.
I disagree with that - she still seems like an annoying kid sidekick to me. In the Baby Rancor episode, she did have some protagonist action, when she snuck around the slaver camp and released the Baby Rancor. But other than that, and even since then, her main role seems to be to get into trouble and need to be rescued.
I personally don’t think we’ve gotten much if any character development beyond the initial cliche character roles the Bad Batch are slotted into, and Omega as Annoying Kid Sidekick. There also doesn’t seem to be much plot development. It was five episodes in (including a double+ length pilot) before they even started taking mercenary work, which the pre-release publicity indicated was the entire premise of the show. And the other main element of the show’s pre-release publicity, the Rise of the Empire, has been nearly absent. We saw the one mission against the refugees, and then the “chain code” was the focus of one episode and was a plot point in a couple of others, but other than that…? And, as evidenced by the back-and-forth about it upthread, it’s not even clear what a “chain code” is, why the Empire is implementing it, or if it’s a Bad Thing.
Of course, that may just be down to pre-release publicity just not doing a good job of actually describing the show’s premise, which certainly does happen. But right now, there doesn’t really seem to be much of a throughline for the show. And I usually like episodic, plot-of-the-week shows, as long as the plots and characters are compelling, which this show just isn’t to me.
And to be clear, I enjoyed both Clone Wars and Rebels, and I thought the Clone Trooper-centered episodes were the highlight of the former, so The Bad Batch show should be right up my alley.
I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to stick with it.
I don’t have a problem with Omega, but I feel like “gritty side of Star Wars with vulnerable but capable sidekick” is becoming a trope. Ahsoka, Ezra in Rebels, Grogu, now Omega.
I thought Ahsoka was an Annoying Kid Sidekick when she first appeared (“Snips”? Really?), but she was at least a Jedi Padawan, and I thought by the end of the series, she was the best realized character in the whole show. Which is one reason I’m still sticking with The Bad Batch - I’m hoping Filoni, et al, figure out a way for Omega to become a compelling character on her own. Ezra, on the other hand, I thought was pretty clearly the main protagonist and viewpoint character on Rebels. I thought he was annoying at times, but I never thought he was just a sidekick. As for Grogu, well, I mean…Baby Yoda. (I think I’d actually find Omega a lot less annoying if she were an infant or toddler).
Ah. I wasn’t exposed to publicity. I discovered the show when this thread was posted. So I don’t have any preconceptions. I can understand your disappointment since it’s not meeting your expectations. I’m letting the show take me wherever it goes; way too early for me to know how I’ll like it overall.
Not directed to you, but I think a lot Star Wars fans have been spoiled by post-show analysis. They expect to understand all the subtleties on the first watch. As I tell my kids: give the show time to tell its story. Then rewatch it and catch stuff you missed the first-time through.
I’ll admit, my perceptions of the show are probably influenced by my expectations, which isn’t entirely fair to the show. But it’s also had quite a few episodes now to establish itself on its own terms, and I’m still not finding the characters or plots compelling.
I also realize that I’m coming across as a wet blanket in a thread where everyone else seems to be enjoying the show a lot more than I am, so I’ll probably drop out of the thread.
Just one more comment, though:
So much for “clone brothers”. The Bad Batch killed a lot of clones in this last episode. They tried to talk Crosshair down, but everyone else, they just gunned down without hesitation. I know the Bad Batch kind of look down on “the Regs”, but still…
Yeah it would be a monumental task to de-chip every clone, but they did it for themselves and an out of control Wrecker so I hope they at least address trying to de-chip the rest.
This ep was an improvement. Nice to have the cameos actually be more than fan service. I still think Bane is a goofy character though. Lots of nonsense to have to ignore for the story to work. Fun enough though that I was willing to.
For once I agree with the cameo/fanservice complaints. Up until now, I felt like the cameos were Easter eggs that put a smile on long time fans’ faces, but didn’t get in the way of telling the story.
This episode, however, felt like a backdoor pilot for Young Hera: The Series or Rebels Babies. Heck, the titular Bad Batch, with the exception of Crosshair, is in only one scene.
Personally, I like all the character crossovers. To me it felt like this is going to be the main story for the rest of the season (5 episodes left). So an origin story for Hera seems a good way to do that.
I’d have liked it more if Hera didn’t have a weirdly different accent than she had later. But hearing Chopper was a balm.
I think the bad accents overall make the show hard to listen to. I cannot stand when Omega talks. I generally like NZ accents and I don’t know if the actress is from there and trying too hard or faking it completely but I hate it.
Of all the New Zealand accents on the show, I believe Omega’s is the only one provided by someone actually from New Zealand.
Correct. Dee Bradley Baker, who voices the clones, puts on a painfully awkward NZ accent. But Michelle Ang, who voices Omega, is actually from NZ herself and her accent is real. And comfortingly familiar to me.
The Bad Batch: If you thought the Star Wars Galaxy was too small, just you wait!
Very close to giving up on this show.
I didn’t even recognize her. I only remembered Chopper. Then I was thinking why is Chopper here and then some quick googling led me to the rest. Oh, it’s that same Twilek that was with Chopper before.
I like the series, but it’s become another season of Clone Wars. Interesting for completionists, but not something I’d recommend for newbies.
As I recall, there was an episode or two of Rebels when she was interacting with her father and the others, where she was speaking with a “Twi’lek” accent. I suppose it’s the accent of her childhood that she mostly lost, but reverts to when amongst her people. I thought it a nice touch.
I don’t even understand this sentiment. This show continues to move us beyond the Skywalker/Kenobi stories. What’s wrong with fleshing out a popular character that was introduced in a previous series (which itself was largely Skywalker- and Kenobi-less),by going back to see how she got started? Not everything needs to be completely new and unrelated to previous movies and shows. I love seeing things build upon previous things.
I’m finally caught up on the series, and gotta say I’m loving it. Love that it continues the Star Wars story-telling with kids. At its core, it’s a kids’ story, and showing how kids/young adults develop in this dark situation is cool to watch, both for me and my own kids. Loved what Filoni did with Ahsoka and Ezra, and I’m excited to see where he’s going to take us with Omega, Hera, and maybe even Grogu.
Because it’s a well they go back to over and over and over and over again. Everytime you think the story is going to stretch into a new direction they stretch backwards to the familiar. It happened in The Mandalorian and it’s happening here and for some people that’s disappointing and a bit boring.
As one of us who are not long time fans …
… a constant going to the well of established characters rather than developing depth in your new ones is nice shortcut to take for the established fans who know the history and the traits of the established characters, but it certainly is not inviting for us, and it comes at the price of building attachment for main characters of the show.
But more so I read the small universe comment as a different point. These are many planets across many galaxies with likely trillions plus of space traveling sentient creatures, many heroic individuals, yet the heroes we know don’t even have seven degrees of separation, more of them cross paths than students in my High School! Hera saying to Omega as they part ways of “… but I’m sure I’ll see you around!” is an absurd thing to say in such a huge empire, except that functionally it is such a very small place that she is sure to be correct. At least in Mare of Eastown the fact that the protagonist was connected to so many in the pretty small town made some sense! (I’m expecting that someone has done a spoof with these characters having those Pennsylvanian accents …)